Person:Mary O'Brien (56)

Mary was born in County Cork, Ireland about 1844. She met her husband in New York and married when she was 19, so she must have immigrated with her family sometime 1845/1860s. She had 7 sons between 1867 and 1883. The family lived on a farm in Greenwood, Steuben County, in southwestern New York. We don't know when she died. She appears with Barney in the 1905 census. Barney is shown without her in the 1900, 1910, and 1920 censuses, although his status is shown as married.

A Mary O'Hargan is shown on the 1920 census of the Willard State Hospital (Ovid, NY), and her obituary said that she died "at the state hospital after an illness of more than nine years." That hospital was an asylum for the "chronic insane", so she may have suffered some form of dementia which may explain why she is not shown with her husband during the last 25 years of her life.

1. ↑ Her death was reported in the Evening Tribune, Hornell, NY, Feb ? 1925. It says she died at age 70 "at the state hospital after an illness of more than 9 years", and was born in Rexville (true?) and was a lifelong resident.